Criminal case

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the Northern District of Indiana was essentially creating a built-in
appeal issue on ineffective assistance of counsel, and it called out a senior judge for violating a man’s Sixth Amendment
right to choose his own lawyer.

In two cases involving the parental privilege defense, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a teacher who “flicked”
a special education student’s tongue and against a father hit his daughter numerous times with a belt.

The Indiana Court of Appeals has decided that a state statute’s indigency hearing requirement doesn’t apply when
a defendant has entered into a cash bail-bond agreement, meaning a trial court can use that bond money to pay court costs
such as the imposed public defender fee.

The Indiana Supreme Court handed down two opinions Thursday afternoon in which the justices found the trial judges involved
erred in modifying the defendants’ sentences from Class D felonies to Class A misdemeanors.

The man who shot a pregnant teller during a bank robbery, which led to the death of her twins, had his two felony feticide
convictions vacated by the Indiana Court of Appeals because of double jeopardy violations.

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S. Constitution doesn’t prevent the state from retrying a man who was acquitted
by a jury in the murder of one person, but in which the jury couldn’t return a verdict on the defendant's attempted
murder charge of another man, the Indiana Supreme Court held Wednesday.

Two Indiana Supreme Court justices dissented from their colleagues in a case involving the right to resist unlawful police
entry into a home, with one justice writing that he believes the majority is “essentially telling Indiana citizens that
government agents may now enter their homes illegally.”

U.S. Judge Philip Simon in the Northern District of Indiana rejected a plea agreement on April 27 for former physician Mark
Weinberger, who faces at least 22 criminal counts of billing insurers and patients for procedures he didn’t perform.

The Indiana Constitution doesn’t require prior judicial authorization for a “no-knock” execution of a warrant
when justified by exigent circumstances, the Indiana Supreme Court held Tuesday. This is the case even if those circumstances
are known by police when the warrant is obtained.

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a man’s remanded sentence of 44 years, finding that his previous drug conviction
could serve as both the basis for his consecutive sentence for a firearm conviction and to enhance his sentences for his other
convictions.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has joined a majority of other circuits nationwide in finding that the federal sex offender
registration law is not a retroactive punishment on those who were convicted prior to 2006 and traveled after the law was
enacted.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of a defendant’s motion to vacate his guilty plea, claiming ineffective
assistance of trial counsel. The judges found the record foreclosed any claim that the man’s attorney was constitutionally
ineffective or that the man didn’t otherwise knowingly and voluntarily plead guilty.

The Indiana Court of Appeals split as to whether only a chronological case summary entry indicating a man’s admissions
to violating terms of community corrections placement is enough to bypass holding an evidentiary hearing.

In a decision Friday, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals repeated its holding that a District judge can satisfy the review standards
under 18 U.S.C. Section 3553(a) without having to list every possible sentencing factor or detail of every argument raised
for the federal appellate court to find that the sentence was proper.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals addressed Thursday the term “sexual activity” – an issue in which there
is scant law – and ordered a man be acquitted. The man was convicted under federal statute for attempting to entice
a girl he believed to be less than 18 years old to engage in any sexual activity while they chatted online.